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Notes: This is sort of horror/drama that I started in SunnyClouds also known as the Shika/Hina community. On whim, I decided to post the chapters that I’ve already completed here as well as the community. If you guys like it enough then I will plan to update this whenever I update the story in SunnyClouds.

Warning: AU/modern day-high school setting, dark themes, mention of blood/gore/violence/ language/ and future sexual content. And of course, crack pairings are to be expected from me.

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Disclaimer: I do not own any legal rights to the anime/manga series Naruto, this includes the characters.

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Chapter One:

Heavy…

Her entire body felt so heavy and spent beyond its limits.

Slowly, pale eyelids flickered, a subtle sign of her regaining consciousness.

“Time is almost up, boy. So you’d better answer me quickly…”

Dark eyebrows knitted close together as the girl tried to place a name or face with the deep and gruff voice she had just heard. Coming up empty, the girl instead wondered about her location.

‘Where am I?’

Fingers curled, the dainty nails smearing something slick and strangely warm against the ribbed steel surface beneath her.

A metal floor.

Trains have metal floors.

‘So, I’m inside a train? Yes…that’s right! I was riding the train home when…’

Her head gave a sharp ache in protest.

‘What happened? Why can’t I…remember?’

Another voice cut through the darkness.

“You…you bastard! How can you ask me to make a choice like that…”

The words slipped into oblivion, leaving the rest of the statement up for questioning.

Confused, the girl attempted to move. Weak arms trembled as cut and bruised limbs moved to support the entire weight of her upper body. As the young woman tried to pull herself up, the first voice spoke again.

“I didn’t ‘ask’ you to choose. You were the one who asked me for help in the first place.”

Her arms shook before they folded in underneath causing her to tumble forward. A cry of pain escaped her and soon it was echoed by a moan of pain from the second voice.

There was a long and unbearably silent pause.

Then, the first voice spoke up, a hint of wonderment in its’ tone, “She’s still alive?”

The girl cringed as she felt something touch the crown of her head, yet the hand quickly retracted when the second voice violently snapped.

“Don’t touch her!”

Another length of silence followed, which was interrupted by a mirthless chuckle.

“You don’t have to be so defensive; I wasn’t going to hurt her. Besides, both of you won’t be alive for much longer. So, be grateful that you’re dying in the arms of a pretty girl.”

The ‘pretty girl’ briefly drifted out of consciousness again.
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Gradually, she came back around. This time, the girl forced her eyes to open. It was difficult because every part of her being, even her eyelids, felt numbed and weighted down.

Gray-silver colored pupils blinked open and looked up to find a face staring back at her.

At first, all she could see were undefined gray shapes; but her vision soon cleared up.

However, her memory was a different story; so, she couldn’t readily make the connection between herself and the young man leaning over her.

She did however recognize the black uniform tie…

‘He’s from my school.’ Hinata recalled as she looked at his pulled up dark hair, the deep red stains on his otherwise white shirt sleeves. It looked like dried blood. But, there was fresh, slick, and warm maroon liquid covering his left side…

Air caught in Hinata’s throat as she realized that earlier her fingers had been touching fresh human blood.

As gray eyes turned to look to her hands, Hinata’s complexion turned an ashen-gray color as she realized that she too was wounded and it was her blood that was coating the floor.

Then, everything came rushing back to her.

‘An accident! We…we were talking before…something happened to the train. I…fell. Everyone started screaming and running for the doors. And something hit the side of the train…’

Closing her eyes, Hinata could recall being pushed to the floor and shoved up underneath the plastic bench seats for protection as the train rocked back and forth. Something had…’attacked’ the metal siding. Had peeled it open much like a sardine can.

Hinata’s mind was then assaulted by images that didn’t make sense. Sharp curved claws…crazed blood red eyes…long fangs that dripped a mixture of blood and saliva….

That particular memory slipped through the cracks; being buried underneath conscious thought until it vanished completely.

Her thoughts had become clouded again, making it difficult to think.

Apparently she had fainted at some point. In between then and now she and her classmate had been injured.

Gasping for air, her chest felt so tight and there was blood everywhere she looked; but, Hinata honestly felt too weak and numb to be aware of any physical pain.

Looking up, Hinata stared back at the person who was leaning over her. It was almost like he was, or had been, shielding her from something.

Her gaze wandered further, this time looking over and past the boy’s hunched shoulder blades.

The florescent lights weakly flickered on and off; but, even with a sporadic source of light, she could see another person standing in the shadows.

Gray eyes squinted, irritated by the slow trickle of blood that started from the brow of her forehead. Hinata felt her heart stop as a flash of silver appeared in the hands of the shrouded figure.

‘He…he’s got a knife! He’s going to kill me!’ Hinata thought in a panic.

Pale and quivering lips attempted to move. She had to stop this. Something had to be done before…

The figure came closer. Now that the stranger was in her direct line of sight, Hinata could tell that he had two, not one, blades drawn. The handles were tightly clenched in curled fists, almost like a pair of brass knuckles. However, the body of the weapons curved and extended outward into wickedly curved knives that seemed to…’crackle’ with some kind of energy.

Trembling in fear, it took Hinata a moment to realize that if this stranger intended to kill her…he would have to tear through her classmate first.

Eyes widening, her mouth opened, as she screamed, “I…L-look out!”

Then all imploded into darkness again.
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He awoke with a start.

Sore limbs ached in protest to the sudden and unplanned movement. This was followed up by a surge of pain which coiled around from his left side, curved around to his back and rocketed up his spine.

An audible moan escaped the young man before he listlessly collapsed back into the firm mattress.

Air escaped from Shikamaru’s mouth in pained pants, sweat gathering along his brow line.

Everything hurt to the point that he didn’t dare to so much as twitch an eyebrow.

A calm feminine voice rose up, “I wouldn’t move if I were you. The doctors just finished stitching you back together a few hours ago.”

At first, Shikamaru didn’t want to move his head in order to follow the sound of the voice; but curiosity nagged at him.

Luckily, for him, the woman who had spoken up moved within his line of sight. She was of medium height, long ruffled raven black hair and red painted lips.

She looked like a nurse, if the white uniform was any indication; but…something about her felt ‘off’ to Shikamaru.

Then he looked into her eyes.

Red.

A deep and rich ruby hue stared back at him. Her oddly colored eyes slowly blinked, concealed for a moment behind pale eyelids and delicate charcoal eyelashes.

He had seen her somewhere before, but as of this moment his mind was drawing a blank.

The ‘nurse’ smiled softly as she reached over to take the empty water pitcher from the bedside, “You’ve been unconscious for several days, so you must be thirsty. I’ll be back with fresh water and a cup in a few minutes.”

As the woman turned to walk away to leave the room, Shikamaru’s eyes widened slightly as he caught sight of a slender silver chain secured just above the woman’s waistline.

Dangling from the chain was a small hourglass shaped charm. White-silver sand was ever so slowly trickling down into the lower glass compartment.

The red-eyed woman silently followed Shikamaru’s gaze, her own eyes resting on the hourglass as humorless grin curled on her lips.

‘That guy,’ Shikamaru realized, ‘had an hourglass just like the one she has.’

Gazing at her with blatant suspicion, Shikamaru wanted to make it clear that he ‘knew’ that she didn’t belong there.

“Ah, so you’ve figured it out already,” the nurse said softly.

Shikamaru didn’t have the strength to speak up or nod his head; but apparently it wasn’t necessary for him to speak.

Crimson colored lips pursed together before she walked out of the room.
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An uncovered gray eye watched as people milled busily around the hospital floor. With her opposite eye covered with a bandage, Hinata found that it gave her a headache to stare…to think…

Why did it hurt to remember… what happen on the subway train?

Every time Hinata was sure, so sure, that a memory was reoccurring and coming back to her, with a flash of white hot pain throbbing behind her temple, then disappeared yet again.

A cold shudder over took Hinata’s stiff spine and shoulders as she realized that there had been too much blood, both from herself and from her classmate.

‘I shouldn’t be alive,’ Hinata realized, her lower lip trembling as her gaze looked to the hallway.

‘Where’s mother… Neji-oniisan, Hanabi-chan? I…I want to go home.’ Hinata thought, scared and frustrated to the point that tears had stared to collect in the corner of her eyes.

At that moment two people hurried rushed only to stop just outside her hospital door.

“Asuma, get back here!” the woman commanded.

“Hmm what was that dear…oww oww…”

“Don’t call me dear,” the woman’s voice said coolly, “I just came from the room where your little project has just recovered. You’ll be happy to know that he isn’t dead.”

“Oh…that’s good.”

A sigh followed by another sharp retort from the woman, “No, Asuma that isn’t ‘good’! He was supposed to die in that crash…so was that girl! Do you have any idea how much you’ve screwed up by sparing them?”

At this Hinata gasped, yet she quickly clamped her mouth shut by placing two hands over her lips. She didn’t want those two to overhear her, if they knew she was listening in…they might walk on to carry on their conversation…more like an argument, elsewhere.

And, it sounded like they knew something…something important.

“Relax, relax Kurenai…” the man began only to utter an offended “Hey” right after that.

“No smoking inside a hospital Asuma, you know that.” the woman who had been called ‘Kurenai’ answered.

“And I’ll relax only after our hearing. The council is royally pissed off at the stunt you pulled…”

“They’re always pissed off about something,” the man known only as Asuma corrected, “I just happen to be their victim of the week.”

“Well this time they’ve pinned the ‘guilty’ tail on the right ass…” Kurenai muttered darkly, but her voice abruptly cut off as the two figures leaned over to peek inside the hospital room.

Quickly, Hinata attempted to feign sleep, her eyes shut tightly while the girl held her breath.

Silence followed before Hinata heard footsteps walking away, their shoes clanking against the hallways of the hospital.

Daring to open her eyes, Hinata gingerly sat up in bed, only to cringe and cry out as the bandages secured around her torso came undone.

The strips of white cloth peeled away to revel four angry claw-like markings curved around her middle.

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Notes: A rather confusing and amigious beginning to a fan fic I know, but trust me it will get better- and even more confusing- as the chapters start to add up. Thanks for reading! And remember: reviews equal love. Later!